Lanius excubitor
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike (L. meridionalis), the Chinese grey shrike (L. sphenocerus) and the American loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus). Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts.
Breeding takes place generally north of 50° northern latitude in northern Europe and Asia. Most populations migrate south in winter to temperate regions. The great grey shrike is carnivorous, with rodents making up over half its diet.
The species was first scientifically described by the Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema Naturae under the current binomial name. His description is L[anius] cauda cuneiformi lateribus alba, dorso cano, alis nigris macula alba – "a shrike with a wedge-shaped white-bordered tail, back grey, wings black with white spot". At that time, none of the other grey shrikes – including the lesser grey shrike (L. minor), for which the description of the tail pattern is incorrect and which some... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 3 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 9 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 12 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunis | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 5 | Riyadh | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 6 | Marrakesh | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 7 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 8 | Ramallah | 🇵🇸 Palestine | |
| 9 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 10 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Green Planet | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Great Grey Shrike sighting in Awash National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 199th most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Great Grey Shrike in Awash National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June–July, October and December–January, the lowest months. Those are among Awash National Park's wettest months, with about 65 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in January. February–March, May and September have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great Grey Shrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Great Grey Shrike sightings, Awash National Park ranks 8th at under 5%. The best odds are in Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 30%), Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 20%) and Hortobágy National Park (Hungary, about 10%).
Same genus: Lanius
The closest relatives of the Great Grey Shrike that you can see in Awash National Park (genus Lanius, Typical Shrikes) are Somali Fiscal (about 50%), Woodchat Shrike (about 20%) and Red-tailed Shrike (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Grey Shrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Awash National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
